Church History

The Rise Park estate was built in the early 1960's and is situated some four miles north of the City of Nottingham, between the towns of Bulwell and Hucknall. As a new estate without a church the Christian residents met together in their homes for worship and prayer.

The Methodist church saw the need for a church and built Rise Park church.. This was funded by the Property department, of the Nottingham North Circuit, interested residents on Rise Park and with a grant from the Joseph Rank Benevolent Trust.

The foundation stone was laid at 3pm, on the 27th. Augusts 1967 by the Rev. Leonard Johnson, the then superintendent minister of the Nottingham North Methodist Circuit, and the church opened in 1968. The Reverend David Wheeler was appointed as the Methodist minister responsible for the church, in addition to St. Mark's Bulwell and East Side Hucknall Methodist Churches.

During 1970, Lent house groups were held on the estate, where Christians from several denominations enjoyed fellowship together. This resulted in the desire for the church to meet the needs of Christians living on the estate and from various church backgrounds.

Subsequently a "working party" was formed and many discussions with long meetings took place, with local people and officials of the Methodist and Anglican Churches.

On 26th. November 1971 a Declaration of Intent was signed to become 'The Church on Rise Park', an area of Ecumenical experiment. The Methodist minister would devote one third of his time and the Anglican Priest, the reverend Frank Crowther would devote one third of his time, both working as a team and having joint responsibility for patterns of worship, in full consultation with the church council.

June 1977 saw the completion of the church hall and creation of small rooms and an upper room to accommodate the Sunday school which was bursting at the seams.

In 1990 the experiment was recognized as an official Ecumenical project with each of the team ministers working fifty percent of their time with Rise Park.

During the 40 years of the church there have been eight different Methodist ministers and five Anglican vicars in the team working alongside the membership which has included many other denominations.

The church has a richness and has seen a variety of worship styles and activities, with a changing congregation over the years. As the young people who started on the estate all those years ago have grown up and seen their careers develop, they too have moved, making way for new Christians in the church with new and old traditions of worship. However the years have seen times of great growth but also times of decline. Our own young people have grown up and also moved on to Colleges and Universities, married and moved from the area.

Many times our loss has been the gain of others when it must be noted that at least four members from Rise Park church during the last twenty years have trained and are now ordained into full time ministry. Two members have become Lay Readers and two have become Local Preachers. So as a church we thank God for their calling and their continued service in different parts of England and Wales.

Our desire, as it has always been, is to reach out into the local community and to do this we feel that prayer must be the basis of everything as we go out to proclaim the good news of Jesus.